Embattled Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan gets backing for reelection from majority of Latinx Caucus
As Illinois House lawmakers prepare to reconvene next Friday with uncertainty surrounding their future Democratic leadership, a majority of the chamber’s Latinx Caucus said they were backing embattled Michael Madigan for another term as speaker.
In a statement from the caucus Friday, state Reps. Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez and Fred Crespo said that because of the state’s troubled finances, the need for recovery from COVID-19 and a desire for increased representation in the approaching redrawing of legislative districts, “the majority of Latinx members determined that Speaker Madigan is in the best position to move these priorities forward in the coming term.”
“In these unprecedented times, we are being called to address matters of life and death in our community, and must act swiftly with full support from leadership, to alleviate this unmitigated pain and suffering, through emergency housing legislation, expansion of health care coverage and protection of community supports,” the group’s statement said.
“We will continue to hold Speaker Madigan and other state leaders accountable for responding to the needs of the Latinx community,” it said.
Both Hernandez of Cicero and Crespo of Hoffman Estates are members of Madigan’s current leadership team.
House Democrats list 14 lawmakers in the Latinx Caucus. But four of them are among 19 House Democrats who have publicly stated they will not support Madigan for another term as speaker when the next General Assembly is inaugurated on Jan. 13.
With 73 House Democrats expected to be seated in the new legislature, the 19 dissidents leave Madigan six votes shy of the 60 members needed to be elected speaker for another term.
Madigan, a Southwest Side Democrat, is the nation’s longest-serving House speaker. He has held the post since 1983 with the exception of two years in the mid-1990s when Republicans gained control.
But Madigan’s leadership, long the subject of attacks from the Republican minority, has been shaken in a federal bribery investigation of Commonwealth Edison. The utility has agreed to pay a $200 million fine and cooperate with investigators for its involvement in a scheme to influence Madigan by offering bribes, jobs and contracts to his top allies.
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Last month, Madigan’s top political confidant, former legislator and lobbyist Michael McClain, pleaded not guilty to participating in the effort along with former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, lobbyist and former ComEd executive John Hooker and Jay Doherty, a consultant and former head of the City Club of Chicago.
Madigan has said he had no knowledge of the effort and has not committed any wrongdoing. The 78-year-old lawmaker has not been charged.
Only one Democrat has publicly announced a challenge to Madigan for speaker, state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit of Oswego, but she has not identified any public support.
The Latinx Caucus statement followed a forum on Dec. 23 with Madigan and Kifowit, with no additional contenders surfacing. Earlier last month, after a similar forum, the House Democratic Black Caucus issued a statement backing Madigan’s reelection as speaker. Of the 22-member caucus, only one, state Rep. Maurice West of Rockford, has said he will not back Madigan for another term.
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